Pizza executives may want to think twice before venting about their advertising and other contractors on social media sites. A Knoxville, Tenn.-based marketing firm is suing a restaurant owner for $2 million over what it considers libelous claims disseminated through Facebook and Twitter by a former client.
The Pizza Kitchen owner Travis Redmon used the social media sites as ways to warn his contemporaries about what he portrayed as strong-arm marketing tactics. Redmon's allegedly defamatory remarks were recounted in a Sept. 30 article on Knoxvillebiz.com:
"Do not EVER use Lowandtritt mktg. firm!" they quoted him typing in an Aug. 17 Facebook entry. "CROOKS! - Stolen email list, and have tried to pressure me by threat of lawsuit to sign a 'license agreement' to use their mktg materials."
The posts and a few similar tweets were published to more than 300 Facebook friends of The Pizza Kitchen and 247 followers on Twitter, according to the suit.The Pizza Kitchen's attorney, Robyn Askew, said the company is responding "appropriately to a lawsuit that [they] consider to be without merit."
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